Enhancing discovery patterns with shell command exit status

ABSTRACT

A computing system includes a discovery application that identifies a computing device associated with a managed network. The application determines a first command that causes the computing device to invoke a function that provides as output attributes of the computing device. The command includes a parameter that suppresses any textual error messages that the function places in the output. The application also determines a second command that causes the computing device to provide a numerical exit status of the function. The application causes the computing device to execute the first and second commands, and obtains the output and the numerical exit status. Based on the numerical exit status, the application determines that the function did not fully obtain the attributes of the computing device and, in response, (i) modifies the first command, and (ii) causes the computing device to execute the first command as modified and the second command.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/570,514, entitled “ENHANCING DISCOVERY PATTERNS WITH SHELL COMMANDEXIT STATUS,” filed Sep. 13, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Computing devices, software applications, storage structures, and othercomputing resources that make up a computer network may be discoveredand the relationships there between may be mapped. Representations ofthese elements of the computer network, as well as the relationships,may be stored as configuration items in a database. The storedconfiguration items may later be retrieved and used to generate avisualization of a state or arrangement of these elements within thecomputer network, or used for other purposes. Discovering computingresources involves developing software processes that are capable ofgathering the information needed for detection, classification, and/oridentification of these computing resources.

SUMMARY

A discovery application may be configured to discover and generate a mapof computing resources associated with a managed network. In some cases,the discovery application may discover and map a computing devicedisposed within the managed network by utilizing built-in functionsprovided by the computing device. For example, the discovery applicationmay use an operating system shell of the computing device to collectinformation about the computing device to be included within the map.Such a discovery process may be referred to as agentless discoverybecause little to no software may be installed on the computing deviceto allow for execution of the discovery process.

Functions of the operating system shell may, however, generate errorsfor a plurality of reasons, resulting in the requested information notbeing fully obtained. In one example, the discovery application mightlack permissions to execute certain functions and/or access certainfiles. In another example, some functions might not be installed on thecomputing device and thus might not be invokable by the discoveryapplication. In a further example, one implementation of a function maytake as input a different set of parameters than another implementationof the function provided on a different computing device.

The functions may be configured to generate textual error messages toindicate the cause of the error. The discovery application may thus usesuch textual error messages to determine the cause of the error andadjust the command used to obtain the requested information. The textualerror messages may, however, vary across operating systems, operatingsystem versions, and/or individual installations of an operating system(e.g., due to custom, one-off modifications). Such numerous variants ofthe textual error messages may make detection and handling of errorsdifficult. For example, the discovery patterns executed by the discoveryapplication may need to be configured to handle each of these variantsso that the discovery application can be used in a plurality ofdifferent computing environments. Further, as new variants of the errormessages arise, the discovery patterns may need to be frequently updatedto keep up with such changes.

In cases where the discovery application is not configured to handle aparticular variant of a textual error message, the textual error messagemay be mistaken for valid output of the function. That is, the textualerror message may be erroneously treated as an attribute of thecomputing device undergoing discovery, resulting in the textual errormessage, rather than a valid attribute, being incorporated into the mapof computing resources. Further, when a textual error message isaccurately determined to indicate an error, rather than valid output, itmay nevertheless be difficult to determine the type of error based onthe message. Specifically, determining the type of error may involveparsing the textual error message and extracting therefrom semanticinformation indicative of error type. However, due to the variability inthe formatting and content of such error messages, it may be difficultto accurately determine the type of error indicated by the message.

Thus, the discovery application may be configured to suppress textualerror messages and rely instead on a numerical exit status of theinvoked function. To that end, the discovery application may beconfigured to generate at least two commands. A first command may beconfigured to invoke the function by way of which the attributes of thecomputing device are to be obtained. The first command may include aparameter configured to suppress any textual error messages, thusensuring that any generated output does not contain error messages. Thefirst command may also include other parameters, such as input flags andinput values for obtaining particular attributes. A second command maybe configured to obtain a numerical exit status of the function invokedby the first command. That is, the discovery application may obtain anumerical return value of the function in place of any textual errormessages.

The numerical exit status may be a more accurate indicator of errors forthe discovery application because it is a number, rather than text, andthus needs not be parsed. For example, by convention any non-zeronumerical exit status may indicate an error. Additionally, a givennumerical exit status may be more consistent across operating systemsand operating system versions than textual output. For example, arelationship between (i) the numerical exit status and (ii) error typemay be defined by a standard, convention, or recommendation provided bya software system, group, or consortium and implemented across differentoperating systems. Thus, fewer variants of the numerical exit status mayneed to be handled by the discovery application, since fewer variantsare possible, thereby allowing the discovery application to beconfigured to make modifications to the discovery operations to resolvethe encountered error. Further, since the numerical exit status isobtained as a result of execution of a second command, the numericalexit status is not comingled with valid output of the function invokedby the first command. Thus, the discovery application may easily avoidmisinterpreting the numerical exit status as an attribute of thecomputing device undergoing discovery.

Accordingly, a first example embodiment may involve identifying, by adiscovery application, a computing device associated with a managednetwork for incorporation into a representation of computing resourcesassociated with the managed network. The representation may be stored,as one or more configuration items and on behalf of the managed network,in persistent storage disposed within a remote network managementplatform. The first example embodiment may also involve determining, bythe discovery application, a first command configured to cause thecomputing device to invoke a function configured to provide as outputone or more attributes of the computing device. The command may includea parameter that suppresses any textual error messages that the functionplaces in the output in response to its execution. The first exampleembodiment may additionally involve determining, by the discoveryapplication, a second command configured to cause the computing deviceto provide a numerical exit status of the function. The first exampleembodiment may further involve causing, by the discovery application,the computing device to execute the first command and the secondcommand, and then obtaining, from the computing device and by thediscovery application, the output of the function and the numerical exitstatus of the function. The first example embodiment may yetadditionally involve, based on the numerical exit status of thefunction, determining, by the discovery application, that the functiondid not fully obtain the one or more attributes of the computing device.The first example embodiment may yet further involve, in response todetermining that the function did not fully obtain the one or moreattributes of the computing device, (i) modifying, by the discoveryapplication, the first command, and (ii) causing, by the discoveryapplication, the computing device to execute the first command asmodified and the second command.

In a second example embodiment, a computing system may includepersistent storage disposed within a remote network management platformand configured to store, as one or more configuration items and onbehalf of a managed network, a representation of computing resourcesassociated with the managed network. The computing system may alsoinclude a discovery application configured to perform operations. Theoperations may include identifying a computing device associated withthe managed network for incorporation into the representation. Theoperations may also include determining a first command configured tocause the computing device to invoke a function configured to provide asoutput one or more attributes of the computing device. The command mayinclude a parameter that suppresses any textual error messages that thefunction places in the output in response to its execution. Theoperations may additionally include determining a second commandconfigured to cause the computing device to provide a numerical exitstatus of the function. The operations may further include causing thecomputing device to execute the first command and the second command,and then obtaining, from the computing device, the output of thefunction and the numerical exit status of the function. The operationsmay yet additionally include, based on the numerical exit status of thefunction, determining that the function did not fully obtain the one ormore attributes of the computing device. The operations may yet furtherinclude, in response to determining that the function did not fullyobtain the one or more attributes of the computing device, (i) modifyingthe first command, and (ii) causing the computing device to execute thefirst command as modified and the second command.

In a third example embodiment, an article of manufacture may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon programinstructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform operations in accordance with the firstexample embodiment and/or the second example embodiment.

In a fourth example embodiment, a computing system may include at leastone processor, as well as memory and program instructions. The programinstructions may be stored in the memory, and upon execution by the atleast one processor, cause the computing system to perform operations inaccordance with the first example embodiment and/or the second exampleembodiment.

In a fifth example embodiment, a system may include various means forcarrying out each of the operations of the first example embodimentand/or the second example embodiment.

These, as well as other embodiments, aspects, advantages, andalternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artby reading the following detailed description, with reference whereappropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, this summary andother descriptions and figures provided herein are intended toillustrate embodiments by way of example only and, as such, thatnumerous variations are possible. For instance, structural elements andprocess steps can be rearranged, combined, distributed, eliminated, orotherwise changed, while remaining within the scope of the embodimentsas claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of a computing device, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic drawing of a server device cluster, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a communication environment involving a remote networkmanagement architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5A depicts another communication environment involving a remotenetwork management architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C illustrate a message flow diagram, in accordancewith example embodiments.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict example operating system shell instructions, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should beunderstood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein tomean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodimentor feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or features unless stated as such. Thus, other embodimentscan be utilized and other changes can be made without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. Accordingly, the exampleembodiments described herein are not meant to be limiting. It will bereadily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, asgenerally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, can bearranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a widevariety of different configurations. For example, the separation offeatures into “client” and “server” components may occur in a number ofways.

Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated ineach of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus,the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one ormore overall embodiments, with the understanding that not allillustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.

Additionally, any enumeration of elements, blocks, or steps in thisspecification or the claims is for purposes of clarity. Thus, suchenumeration should not be interpreted to require or imply that theseelements, blocks, or steps adhere to a particular arrangement or arecarried out in a particular order.

I. INTRODUCTION

A large enterprise is a complex entity with many interrelatedoperations. Some of these are found across the enterprise, such as humanresources (HR), supply chain, information technology (IT), and finance.However, each enterprise also has its own unique operations that provideessential capabilities and/or create competitive advantages.

To support widely-implemented operations, enterprises typically useoff-the-shelf software applications, such as customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) packages. However,they may also need custom software applications to meet their own uniquerequirements. A large enterprise often has dozens or hundreds of thesecustom software applications. Nonetheless, the advantages provided bythe embodiments herein are not limited to large enterprises and may beapplicable to an enterprise, or any other type of organization, of anysize.

Many such software applications are developed by individual departmentswithin the enterprise. These range from simple spreadsheets tocustom-built software tools and databases. But the proliferation ofsiloed custom software applications has numerous disadvantages. Itnegatively impacts an enterprise's ability to run and grow itsoperations, innovate, and meet regulatory requirements. The enterprisemay find it difficult to integrate, streamline, and enhance itsoperations due to lack of a single system that unifies its subsystemsand data.

To efficiently create custom applications, enterprises would benefitfrom a remotely-hosted application platform that eliminates unnecessarydevelopment complexity. The goal of such a platform would be to reducetime-consuming, repetitive application development tasks so thatsoftware engineers and individuals in other roles can focus ondeveloping unique, high-value features.

In order to achieve this goal, the concept of Application Platform as aService (aPaaS) is introduced, to intelligently automate workflowsthroughout the enterprise. An aPaaS system is hosted remotely from theenterprise, but may access data, applications, and services within theenterprise by way of secure connections. Such an aPaaS system may have anumber of advantageous capabilities and characteristics. Theseadvantages and characteristics may be able to improve the enterprise'soperations and workflows for IT, HR, CRM, customer service, applicationdevelopment, and security.

The aPaaS system may support development and execution ofmodel-view-controller (MVC) applications. MVC applications divide theirfunctionality into three interconnected parts (model, view, andcontroller) in order to isolate representations of information from themanner in which the information is presented to the user, therebyallowing for efficient code reuse and parallel development. Theseapplications may be web-based, and offer create, read, update, delete(CRUD) capabilities. This allows new applications to be built on acommon application infrastructure.

The aPaaS system may support standardized application components, suchas a standardized set of widgets for graphical user interface (GUI)development. In this way, applications built using the aPaaS system havea common look and feel. Other software components and modules may bestandardized as well. In some cases, this look and feel can be brandedor skinned with an enterprise's custom logos and/or color schemes.

The aPaaS system may support the ability to configure the behavior ofapplications using metadata. This allows application behaviors to berapidly adapted to meet specific needs. Such an approach reducesdevelopment time and increases flexibility. Further, the aPaaS systemmay support GUI tools that facilitate metadata creation and management,thus reducing errors in the metadata.

The aPaaS system may support clearly-defined interfaces betweenapplications, so that software developers can avoid unwantedinter-application dependencies. Thus, the aPaaS system may implement aservice layer in which persistent state information and other data arestored.

The aPaaS system may support a rich set of integration features so thatthe applications thereon can interact with legacy applications andthird-party applications. For instance, the aPaaS system may support acustom employee-onboarding system that integrates with legacy HR, IT,and accounting systems.

The aPaaS system may support enterprise-grade security. Furthermore,since the aPaaS system may be remotely hosted, it should also utilizesecurity procedures when it interacts with systems in the enterprise orthird-party networks and services hosted outside of the enterprise. Forexample, the aPaaS system may be configured to share data amongst theenterprise and other parties to detect and identify common securitythreats.

Other features, functionality, and advantages of an aPaaS system mayexist. This description is for purpose of example and is not intended tobe limiting.

As an example of the aPaaS development process, a software developer maybe tasked to create a new application using the aPaaS system. First, thedeveloper may define the data model, which specifies the types of datathat the application uses and the relationships therebetween. Then, viaa GUI of the aPaaS system, the developer enters (e.g., uploads) the datamodel. The aPaaS system automatically creates all of the correspondingdatabase tables, fields, and relationships, which can then be accessedvia an object-oriented services layer.

In addition, the aPaaS system can also build a fully-functional MVCapplication with client-side interfaces and server-side CRUD logic. Thisgenerated application may serve as the basis of further development forthe user. Advantageously, the developer does not have to spend a largeamount of time on basic application functionality. Further, since theapplication may be web-based, it can be accessed from anyInternet-enabled client device. Alternatively or additionally, a localcopy of the application may be able to be accessed, for instance, whenInternet service is not available.

The aPaaS system may also support a rich set of pre-definedfunctionality that can be added to applications. These features includesupport for searching, email, templating, workflow design, reporting,analytics, social media, scripting, mobile-friendly output, andcustomized GUIs.

Such an aPaaS system may represent a GUI in various ways. For example, aserver device of the aPaaS system may generate a representation of a GUIusing a combination of HTML and JAVASCRIPT®. The JAVASCRIPT® may includeclient-side executable code, server-side executable code, or both. Theserver device may transmit or otherwise provide this representation to aclient device for the client device to display on a screen according toits locally-defined look and feel. Alternatively, a representation of aGUI may take other forms, such as an intermediate form (e.g., JAVA®byte-code) that a client device can use to directly generate graphicaloutput therefrom. Other possibilities exist.

Further, user interaction with GUI elements, such as buttons, menus,tabs, sliders, checkboxes, toggles, etc. may be referred to as“selection”, “activation”, or “actuation” thereof. These terms may beused regardless of whether the GUI elements are interacted with by wayof keyboard, pointing device, touchscreen, or another mechanism.

An aPaaS architecture is particularly powerful when integrated with anenterprise's network and used to manage such a network. The followingembodiments describe architectural and functional aspects of exampleaPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantages thereof.

II. EXAMPLE COMPUTING DEVICES AND CLOUD-BASED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram exemplifying a computing device100, illustrating some of the components that could be included in acomputing device arranged to operate in accordance with the embodimentsherein. Computing device 100 could be a client device (e.g., a deviceactively operated by a user), a server device (e.g., a device thatprovides computational services to client devices), or some other typeof computational platform. Some server devices may operate as clientdevices from time to time in order to perform particular operations, andsome client devices may incorporate server features.

In this example, computing device 100 includes processor 102, memory104, network interface 106, and input/output unit 108, all of which maybe coupled by system bus 110 or a similar mechanism. In someembodiments, computing device 100 may include other components and/orperipheral devices (e.g., detachable storage, printers, and so on).

Processor 102 may be one or more of any type of computer processingelement, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a co-processor (e.g.,a mathematics, graphics, or encryption co-processor), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a network processor, and/or a form of integratedcircuit or controller that performs processor operations. In some cases,processor 102 may be one or more single-core processors. In other cases,processor 102 may be one or more multi-core processors with multipleindependent processing units. Processor 102 may also include registermemory for temporarily storing instructions being executed and relateddata, as well as cache memory for temporarily storing recently-usedinstructions and data.

Memory 104 may be any form of computer-usable memory, including but notlimited to random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), andnon-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk drives, solid statedrives, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and/or tapestorage). Thus, memory 104 represents both main memory units, as well aslong-term storage. Other types of memory may include biological memory.

Memory 104 may store program instructions and/or data on which programinstructions may operate. By way of example, memory 104 may store theseprogram instructions on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, suchthat the instructions are executable by processor 102 to carry out anyof the methods, processes, or operations disclosed in this specificationor the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, memory 104 may include firmware 104A, kernel 104B,and/or applications 104C. Firmware 104A may be program code used to bootor otherwise initiate some or all of computing device 100. Kernel 104Bmay be an operating system, including modules for memory management,scheduling and management of processes, input/output, and communication.Kernel 104B may also include device drivers that allow the operatingsystem to communicate with the hardware modules (e.g., memory units,networking interfaces, ports, and buses) of computing device 100.Applications 104C may be one or more user-space software programs, suchas web browsers or email clients, as well as any software libraries usedby these programs. Memory 104 may also store data used by these andother programs and applications.

Network interface 106 may take the form of one or more wirelineinterfaces, such as Ethernet (e.g., Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, andso on). Network interface 106 may also support communication over one ormore non-Ethernet media, such as coaxial cables or power lines, or overwide-area media, such as Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) ordigital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. Network interface 106 mayadditionally take the form of one or more wireless interfaces, such asIEEE 802.11 (Wifi), BLUETOOTH®, global positioning system (GPS), or awide-area wireless interface. However, other forms of physical layerinterfaces and other types of standard or proprietary communicationprotocols may be used over network interface 106. Furthermore, networkinterface 106 may comprise multiple physical interfaces. For instance,some embodiments of computing device 100 may include Ethernet,BLUETOOTH®, and Wifi interfaces.

Input/output unit 108 may facilitate user and peripheral deviceinteraction with computing device 100. Input/output unit 108 may includeone or more types of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, and so on. Similarly, input/output unit 108 may include one ormore types of output devices, such as a screen, monitor, printer, and/orone or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Additionally or alternatively,computing device 100 may communicate with other devices using auniversal serial bus (USB) or high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI) port interface, for example.

In some embodiments, one or more computing devices like computing device100 may be deployed to support an aPaaS architecture. The exact physicallocation, connectivity, and configuration of these computing devices maybe unknown and/or unimportant to client devices. Accordingly, thecomputing devices may be referred to as “cloud-based” devices that maybe housed at various remote data center locations.

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud-based server cluster 200 in accordance withexample embodiments. In FIG. 2, operations of a computing device (e.g.,computing device 100) may be distributed between server devices 202,data storage 204, and routers 206, all of which may be connected bylocal cluster network 208. The number of server devices 202, datastorages 204, and routers 206 in server cluster 200 may depend on thecomputing task(s) and/or applications assigned to server cluster 200.

For example, server devices 202 can be configured to perform variouscomputing tasks of computing device 100. Thus, computing tasks can bedistributed among one or more of server devices 202. To the extent thatthese computing tasks can be performed in parallel, such a distributionof tasks may reduce the total time to complete these tasks and return aresult. For purposes of simplicity, both server cluster 200 andindividual server devices 202 may be referred to as a “server device.”This nomenclature should be understood to imply that one or moredistinct server devices, data storage devices, and cluster routers maybe involved in server device operations.

Data storage 204 may be data storage arrays that include drive arraycontrollers configured to manage read and write access to groups of harddisk drives and/or solid state drives. The drive array controllers,alone or in conjunction with server devices 202, may also be configuredto manage backup or redundant copies of the data stored in data storage204 to protect against drive failures or other types of failures thatprevent one or more of server devices 202 from accessing units of datastorage 204. Other types of memory aside from drives may be used.

Routers 206 may include networking equipment configured to provideinternal and external communications for server cluster 200. Forexample, routers 206 may include one or more packet-switching and/orrouting devices (including switches and/or gateways) configured toprovide (i) network communications between server devices 202 and datastorage 204 via local cluster network 208, and/or (ii) networkcommunications between server cluster 200 and other devices viacommunication link 210 to network 212.

Additionally, the configuration of routers 206 can be based at least inpart on the data communication requirements of server devices 202 anddata storage 204, the latency and throughput of the local clusternetwork 208, the latency, throughput, and cost of communication link210, and/or other factors that may contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency, and/or other design goals ofthe system architecture.

As a possible example, data storage 204 may include any form ofdatabase, such as a structured query language (SQL) database. Varioustypes of data structures may store the information in such a database,including but not limited to tables, arrays, lists, trees, and tuples.Furthermore, any databases in data storage 204 may be monolithic ordistributed across multiple physical devices.

Server devices 202 may be configured to transmit data to and receivedata from data storage 204. This transmission and retrieval may take theform of SQL queries or other types of database queries, and the outputof such queries, respectively. Additional text, images, video, and/oraudio may be included as well. Furthermore, server devices 202 mayorganize the received data into web page or web applicationrepresentations. Such a representation may take the form of a markuplanguage, such as the hypertext markup language (HTML), the extensiblemarkup language (XML), or some other standardized or proprietary format.Moreover, server devices 202 may have the capability of executingvarious types of computerized scripting languages, such as but notlimited to Perl, Python, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Active ServerPages (ASP), JAVASCRIPT®, and so on. Computer program code written inthese languages may facilitate the providing of web pages to clientdevices, as well as client device interaction with the web pages.Alternatively or additionally, JAVA® may be used to facilitategeneration of web pages and/or to provide web application functionality.

III. EXAMPLE REMOTE NETWORK MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments. This architecture includes three maincomponents—managed network 300, remote network management platform 320,and public cloud networks 340—all connected by way of Internet 350.

A. Managed Networks

Managed network 300 may be, for example, an enterprise network used byan entity for computing and communications tasks, as well as storage ofdata. Thus, managed network 300 may include client devices 302, serverdevices 304, routers 306, virtual machines 308, firewall 310, and/orproxy servers 312. Client devices 302 may be embodied by computingdevice 100, server devices 304 may be embodied by computing device 100or server cluster 200, and routers 306 may be any type of router,switch, or gateway.

Virtual machines 308 may be embodied by one or more of computing device100 or server cluster 200. In general, a virtual machine is an emulationof a computing system, and mimics the functionality (e.g., processor,memory, and communication resources) of a physical computer. Onephysical computing system, such as server cluster 200, may support up tothousands of individual virtual machines. In some embodiments, virtualmachines 308 may be managed by a centralized server device orapplication that facilitates allocation of physical computing resourcesto individual virtual machines, as well as performance and errorreporting. Enterprises often employ virtual machines in order toallocate computing resources in an efficient, as needed fashion.Providers of virtualized computing systems include VMWARE® andMICROSOFT®.

Firewall 310 may be one or more specialized routers or server devicesthat protect managed network 300 from unauthorized attempts to accessthe devices, applications, and services therein, while allowingauthorized communication that is initiated from managed network 300.Firewall 310 may also provide intrusion detection, web filtering, virusscanning, application-layer gateways, and other applications orservices. In some embodiments not shown in FIG. 3, managed network 300may include one or more virtual private network (VPN) gateways withwhich it communicates with remote network management platform 320 (seebelow).

Managed network 300 may also include one or more proxy servers 312. Anembodiment of proxy servers 312 may be a server application thatfacilitates communication and movement of data between managed network300, remote network management platform 320, and public cloud networks340. In particular, proxy servers 312 may be able to establish andmaintain secure communication sessions with one or more computationalinstances of remote network management platform 320. By way of such asession, remote network management platform 320 may be able to discoverand manage aspects of the architecture and configuration of managednetwork 300 and its components. Possibly with the assistance of proxyservers 312, remote network management platform 320 may also be able todiscover and manage aspects of public cloud networks 340 that are usedby managed network 300.

Firewalls, such as firewall 310, typically deny all communicationsessions that are incoming by way of Internet 350, unless such a sessionwas ultimately initiated from behind the firewall (i.e., from a deviceon managed network 300) or the firewall has been explicitly configuredto support the session. By placing proxy servers 312 behind firewall 310(e.g., within managed network 300 and protected by firewall 310), proxyservers 312 may be able to initiate these communication sessions throughfirewall 310. Thus, firewall 310 might not have to be specificallyconfigured to support incoming sessions from remote network managementplatform 320, thereby avoiding potential security risks to managednetwork 300.

In some cases, managed network 300 may consist of a few devices and asmall number of networks. In other deployments, managed network 300 mayspan multiple physical locations and include hundreds of networks andhundreds of thousands of devices. Thus, the architecture depicted inFIG. 3 is capable of scaling up or down by orders of magnitude.

Furthermore, depending on the size, architecture, and connectivity ofmanaged network 300, a varying number of proxy servers 312 may bedeployed therein. For example, each one of proxy servers 312 may beresponsible for communicating with remote network management platform320 regarding a portion of managed network 300. Alternatively oradditionally, sets of two or more proxy servers may be assigned to sucha portion of managed network 300 for purposes of load balancing,redundancy, and/or high availability.

B. Remote Network Management Platforms

Remote network management platform 320 is a hosted environment thatprovides aPaaS services to users, particularly to the operator ofmanaged network 300. These services may take the form of web-basedportals, for example, using the aforementioned web-based technologies.Thus, a user can securely access remote network management platform 320from, for example, client devices 302, or potentially from a clientdevice outside of managed network 300. By way of the web-based portals,users may design, test, and deploy applications, generate reports, viewanalytics, and perform other tasks.

As shown in FIG. 3, remote network management platform 320 includes fourcomputational instances 322, 324, 326, and 328. Each of thesecomputational instances may represent one or more server nodes operatingdedicated copies of the aPaaS software and/or one or more databasenodes. The arrangement of server and database nodes on physical serverdevices and/or virtual machines can be flexible and may vary based onenterprise needs. In combination, these nodes may provide a set of webportals, services, and applications (e.g., a wholly-functioning aPaaSsystem) available to a particular enterprise. In some cases, a singleenterprise may use multiple computational instances.

For example, managed network 300 may be an enterprise customer of remotenetwork management platform 320, and may use computational instances322, 324, and 326. The reason for providing multiple computationalinstances to one customer is that the customer may wish to independentlydevelop, test, and deploy its applications and services. Thus,computational instance 322 may be dedicated to application developmentrelated to managed network 300, computational instance 324 may bededicated to testing these applications, and computational instance 326may be dedicated to the live operation of tested applications andservices. A computational instance may also be referred to as a hostedinstance, a remote instance, a customer instance, or by some otherdesignation. Any application deployed onto a computational instance maybe a scoped application, in that its access to databases within thecomputational instance can be restricted to certain elements therein(e.g., one or more particular database tables or particular rows withinone or more database tables).

For purposes of clarity, the disclosure herein refers to the arrangementof application nodes, database nodes, aPaaS software executing thereon,and underlying hardware as a “computational instance.” Note that usersmay colloquially refer to the graphical user interfaces provided therebyas “instances.” But unless it is defined otherwise herein, a“computational instance” is a computing system disposed within remotenetwork management platform 320.

The multi-instance architecture of remote network management platform320 is in contrast to conventional multi-tenant architectures, overwhich multi-instance architectures exhibit several advantages. Inmulti-tenant architectures, data from different customers (e.g.,enterprises) are comingled in a single database. While these customers'data are separate from one another, the separation is enforced by thesoftware that operates the single database. As a consequence, a securitybreach in this system may impact all customers' data, creatingadditional risk, especially for entities subject to governmental,healthcare, and/or financial regulation. Furthermore, any databaseoperations that impact one customer will likely impact all customerssharing that database. Thus, if there is an outage due to hardware orsoftware errors, this outage affects all such customers. Likewise, ifthe database is to be upgraded to meet the needs of one customer, itwill be unavailable to all customers during the upgrade process. Often,such maintenance windows will be long, due to the size of the shareddatabase.

In contrast, the multi-instance architecture provides each customer withits own database in a dedicated computing instance. This preventscomingling of customer data, and allows each instance to beindependently managed. For example, when one customer's instanceexperiences an outage due to errors or an upgrade, other computationalinstances are not impacted. Maintenance down time is limited because thedatabase only contains one customer's data. Further, the simpler designof the multi-instance architecture allows redundant copies of eachcustomer database and instance to be deployed in a geographicallydiverse fashion. This facilitates high availability, where the liveversion of the customer's instance can be moved when faults are detectedor maintenance is being performed.

In some embodiments, remote network management platform 320 may includeone or more central instances, controlled by the entity that operatesthis platform. Like a computational instance, a central instance mayinclude some number of application and database nodes disposed upon somenumber of physical server devices or virtual machines. Such a centralinstance may serve as a repository for specific configurations ofcomputational instances as well as data that can be shared amongst atleast some of the computational instances. For instance, definitions ofcommon security threats that could occur on the computational instances,software packages that are commonly discovered on the computationalinstances, and/or an application store for applications that can bedeployed to the computational instances may reside in a centralinstance. Computational instances may communicate with central instancesby way of well-defined interfaces in order to obtain this data.

In order to support multiple computational instances in an efficientfashion, remote network management platform 320 may implement aplurality of these instances on a single hardware platform. For example,when the aPaaS system is implemented on a server cluster such as servercluster 200, it may operate virtual machines that dedicate varyingamounts of computational, storage, and communication resources toinstances. But full virtualization of server cluster 200 might not benecessary, and other mechanisms may be used to separate instances. Insome examples, each instance may have a dedicated account and one ormore dedicated databases on server cluster 200. Alternatively, acomputational instance such as computational instance 322 may spanmultiple physical devices.

In some cases, a single server cluster of remote network managementplatform 320 may support multiple independent enterprises. Furthermore,as described below, remote network management platform 320 may includemultiple server clusters deployed in geographically diverse data centersin order to facilitate load balancing, redundancy, and/or highavailability.

C. Public Cloud Networks

Public cloud networks 340 may be remote server devices (e.g., aplurality of server clusters such as server cluster 200) that can beused for outsourced computation, data storage, communication, andservice hosting operations. These servers may be virtualized (i.e., theservers may be virtual machines). Examples of public cloud networks 340may include AMAZON WEB SERVICES® and MICROSOFT® AZURE®. Like remotenetwork management platform 320, multiple server clusters supportingpublic cloud networks 340 may be deployed at geographically diverselocations for purposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or highavailability.

Managed network 300 may use one or more of public cloud networks 340 todeploy applications and services to its clients and customers. Forinstance, if managed network 300 provides online music streamingservices, public cloud networks 340 may store the music files andprovide web interface and streaming capabilities. In this way, theenterprise of managed network 300 does not have to build and maintainits own servers for these operations.

Remote network management platform 320 may include modules thatintegrate with public cloud networks 340 to expose virtual machines andmanaged services therein to managed network 300. The modules may allowusers to request virtual resources, discover allocated resources, andprovide flexible reporting for public cloud networks 340. In order toestablish this functionality, a user from managed network 300 mightfirst establish an account with public cloud networks 340, and request aset of associated resources. Then, the user may enter the accountinformation into the appropriate modules of remote network managementplatform 320. These modules may then automatically discover themanageable resources in the account, and also provide reports related tousage, performance, and billing.

D. Communication Support and Other Operations

Internet 350 may represent a portion of the global Internet. However,Internet 350 may alternatively represent a different type of network,such as a private wide-area or local-area packet-switched network.

FIG. 4 further illustrates the communication environment between managednetwork 300 and computational instance 322, and introduces additionalfeatures and alternative embodiments. In FIG. 4, computational instance322 is replicated across data centers 400A and 400B. These data centersmay be geographically distant from one another, perhaps in differentcities or different countries. Each data center includes supportequipment that facilitates communication with managed network 300, aswell as remote users.

In data center 400A, network traffic to and from external devices flowseither through VPN gateway 402A or firewall 404A. VPN gateway 402A maybe peered with VPN gateway 412 of managed network 300 by way of asecurity protocol such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) orTransport Layer Security (TLS). Firewall 404A may be configured to allowaccess from authorized users, such as user 414 and remote user 416, andto deny access to unauthorized users. By way of firewall 404A, theseusers may access computational instance 322, and possibly othercomputational instances. Load balancer 406A may be used to distributetraffic amongst one or more physical or virtual server devices that hostcomputational instance 322. Load balancer 406A may simplify user accessby hiding the internal configuration of data center 400A, (e.g.,computational instance 322) from client devices. For instance, ifcomputational instance 322 includes multiple physical or virtualcomputing devices that share access to multiple databases, load balancer406A may distribute network traffic and processing tasks across thesecomputing devices and databases so that no one computing device ordatabase is significantly busier than the others. In some embodiments,computational instance 322 may include VPN gateway 402A, firewall 404A,and load balancer 406A.

Data center 400B may include its own versions of the components in datacenter 400A. Thus, VPN gateway 402B, firewall 404B, and load balancer406B may perform the same or similar operations as VPN gateway 402A,firewall 404A, and load balancer 406A, respectively. Further, by way ofreal-time or near-real-time database replication and/or otheroperations, computational instance 322 may exist simultaneously in datacenters 400A and 400B.

Data centers 400A and 400B as shown in FIG. 4 may facilitate redundancyand high availability. In the configuration of FIG. 4, data center 400Ais active and data center 400B is passive. Thus, data center 400A isserving all traffic to and from managed network 300, while the versionof computational instance 322 in data center 400B is being updated innear-real-time. Other configurations, such as one in which both datacenters are active, may be supported.

Should data center 400A fail in some fashion or otherwise becomeunavailable to users, data center 400B can take over as the active datacenter. For example, domain name system (DNS) servers that associate adomain name of computational instance 322 with one or more InternetProtocol (IP) addresses of data center 400A may re-associate the domainname with one or more IP addresses of data center 400B. After thisre-association completes (which may take less than one second or severalseconds), users may access computational instance 322 by way of datacenter 400B.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a possible configuration of managed network 300.As noted above, proxy servers 312 and user 414 may access computationalinstance 322 through firewall 310. Proxy servers 312 may also accessconfiguration items 410. In FIG. 4, configuration items 410 may refer toany or all of client devices 302, server devices 304, routers 306, andvirtual machines 308, any applications or services executing thereon, aswell as relationships between devices, applications, and services. Thus,the term “configuration items” may be shorthand for any physical orvirtual device, or any application or service remotely discoverable ormanaged by computational instance 322, or relationships betweendiscovered devices, applications, and services. Configuration items maybe represented in a configuration management database (CMDB) ofcomputational instance 322.

As noted above, VPN gateway 412 may provide a dedicated VPN to VPNgateway 402A. Such a VPN may be helpful when there is a significantamount of traffic between managed network 300 and computational instance322, or security policies otherwise suggest or require use of a VPNbetween these sites. In some embodiments, any device in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 that directly communicates via theVPN is assigned a public IP address. Other devices in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 may be assigned private IPaddresses (e.g., IP addresses selected from the 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255or 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255 ranges, represented in shorthand assubnets 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16, respectively).

IV. EXAMPLE DEVICE, APPLICATION, AND SERVICE DISCOVERY

In order for remote network management platform 320 to administer thedevices, applications, and services of managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320 may first determine what devices arepresent in managed network 300, the configurations and operationalstatuses of these devices, and the applications and services provided bythe devices, as well as the relationships between discovered devices,applications, and services. As noted above, each device, application,service, and relationship may be referred to as a configuration item.The process of defining configuration items within managed network 300is referred to as discovery, and may be facilitated at least in part byproxy servers 312.

For purposes of the embodiments herein, an “application” may refer toone or more processes, threads, programs, client modules, servermodules, or any other software that executes on a device or group ofdevices. A “service” may refer to a high-level capability provided bymultiple applications executing on one or more devices working inconjunction with one another. For example, a high-level web service mayinvolve multiple web application server threads executing on one deviceand accessing information from a database application that executes onanother device.

FIG. 5A provides a logical depiction of how configuration items can bediscovered, as well as how information related to discoveredconfiguration items can be stored. For sake of simplicity, remotenetwork management platform 320, public cloud networks 340, and Internet350 are not shown.

In FIG. 5A, CMDB 500 and task list 502 are stored within computationalinstance 322. Computational instance 322 may transmit discovery commandsto proxy servers 312. In response, proxy servers 312 may transmit probesto various devices, applications, and services in managed network 300.These devices, applications, and services may transmit responses toproxy servers 312, and proxy servers 312 may then provide informationregarding discovered configuration items to CMDB 500 for storagetherein. Configuration items stored in CMDB 500 represent theenvironment of managed network 300.

Task list 502 represents a list of activities that proxy servers 312 areto perform on behalf of computational instance 322. As discovery takesplace, task list 502 is populated. Proxy servers 312 repeatedly querytask list 502, obtain the next task therein, and perform this task untiltask list 502 is empty or another stopping condition has been reached.

To facilitate discovery, proxy servers 312 may be configured withinformation regarding one or more subnets in managed network 300 thatare reachable by way of proxy servers 312. For instance, proxy servers312 may be given the IP address range 192.168.0/24 as a subnet. Then,computational instance 322 may store this information in CMDB 500 andplace tasks in task list 502 for discovery of devices at each of theseaddresses.

FIG. 5A also depicts devices, applications, and services in managednetwork 300 as configuration items 504, 506, 508, 510, and 512. As notedabove, these configuration items represent a set of physical and/orvirtual devices (e.g., client devices, server devices, routers, orvirtual machines), applications executing thereon (e.g., web servers,email servers, databases, or storage arrays), relationshipstherebetween, as well as services that involve multiple individualconfiguration items.

Placing the tasks in task list 502 may trigger or otherwise cause proxyservers 312 to begin discovery. Alternatively or additionally, discoverymay be manually triggered or automatically triggered based on triggeringevents (e.g., discovery may automatically begin once per day at aparticular time).

In general, discovery may proceed in four logical phases: scanning,classification, identification, and exploration. Each phase of discoveryinvolves various types of probe messages being transmitted by proxyservers 312 to one or more devices in managed network 300. The responsesto these probes may be received and processed by proxy servers 312, andrepresentations thereof may be transmitted to CMDB 500. Thus, each phasecan result in more configuration items being discovered and stored inCMDB 500.

In the scanning phase, proxy servers 312 may probe each IP address inthe specified range of IP addresses for open Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to determinethe general type of device. The presence of such open ports at an IPaddress may indicate that a particular application is operating on thedevice that is assigned the IP address, which in turn may identify theoperating system used by the device. For example, if TCP port 135 isopen, then the device is likely executing a WINDOWS® operating system.Similarly, if TCP port 22 is open, then the device is likely executing aUNIX® operating system, such as LINUX®. If UDP port 161 is open, thenthe device may be able to be further identified through the SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP). Other possibilities exist. Once thepresence of a device at a particular IP address and its open ports havebeen discovered, these configuration items are saved in CMDB 500.

In the classification phase, proxy servers 312 may further probe eachdiscovered device to determine the version of its operating system. Theprobes used for a particular device are based on information gatheredabout the devices during the scanning phase. For example, if a device isfound with TCP port 22 open, a set of UNIX®-specific probes may be used.Likewise, if a device is found with TCP port 135 open, a set ofWINDOWS®-specific probes may be used. For either case, an appropriateset of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxy servers 312 tocarry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312 logging on, orotherwise accessing information from the particular device. Forinstance, if TCP port 22 is open, proxy servers 312 may be instructed toinitiate a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the particular device andobtain information about the operating system thereon from particularlocations in the file system. Based on this information, the operatingsystem may be determined. As an example, a UNIX® device with TCP port 22open may be classified as AIX®, HPUX, LINUX®, MACOS®, or SOLARIS®. Thisclassification information may be stored as one or more configurationitems in CMDB 500.

In the identification phase, proxy servers 312 may determine specificdetails about a classified device. The probes used during this phase maybe based on information gathered about the particular devices during theclassification phase. For example, if a device was classified as LINUX®,a set of LINUX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise, if a device wasclassified as WINDOWS® 2012, as a set of WINDOWS®-2012-specific probesmay be used. As was the case for the classification phase, anappropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxyservers 312 to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312reading information from the particular device, such as basicinput/output system (BIOS) information, serial numbers, networkinterface information, media access control address(es) assigned tothese network interface(s), IP address(es) used by the particular deviceand so on. This identification information may be stored as one or moreconfiguration items in CMDB 500.

In the exploration phase, proxy servers 312 may determine furtherdetails about the operational state of a classified device. The probesused during this phase may be based on information gathered about theparticular devices during the classification phase and/or theidentification phase. Again, an appropriate set of tasks may be placedin task list 502 for proxy servers 312 to carry out. These tasks mayresult in proxy servers 312 reading additional information from theparticular device, such as processor information, memory information,lists of running processes (applications), and so on. Once more, thediscovered information may be stored as one or more configuration itemsin CMDB 500.

Running discovery on a network device, such as a router, may utilizeSNMP. Instead of or in addition to determining a list of runningprocesses or other application-related information, discovery maydetermine additional subnets known to the router and the operationalstate of the router's network interfaces (e.g., active, inactive, queuelength, number of packets dropped, etc.). The IP addresses of theadditional subnets may be candidates for further discovery procedures.Thus, discovery may progress iteratively or recursively.

Once discovery completes, a snapshot representation of each discovereddevice, application, and service is available in CMDB 500. For example,after discovery, operating system version, hardware configuration, andnetwork configuration details for client devices, server devices, androuters in managed network 300, as well as applications executingthereon, may be stored. This collected information may be presented to auser in various ways to allow the user to view the hardware compositionand operational status of devices, as well as the characteristics ofservices that span multiple devices and applications.

Furthermore, CMDB 500 may include entries regarding dependencies andrelationships between configuration items. More specifically, anapplication that is executing on a particular server device, as well asthe services that rely on this application, may be represented as suchin CMDB 500. For example, suppose that a database application isexecuting on a server device, and that this database application is usedby a new employee onboarding service as well as a payroll service. Thus,if the server device is taken out of operation for maintenance, it isclear that the employee onboarding service and payroll service will beimpacted. Likewise, the dependencies and relationships betweenconfiguration items may be able to represent the services impacted whena particular router fails.

In general, dependencies and relationships between configuration itemsmay be displayed on a web-based interface and represented in ahierarchical fashion. Thus, adding, changing, or removing suchdependencies and relationships may be accomplished by way of thisinterface.

Furthermore, users from managed network 300 may develop workflows thatallow certain coordinated activities to take place across multiplediscovered devices. For instance, an IT workflow might allow the user tochange the common administrator password to all discovered LINUX®devices in a single operation.

In order for discovery to take place in the manner described above,proxy servers 312, CMDB 500, and/or one or more credential stores may beconfigured with credentials for one or more of the devices to bediscovered. Credentials may include any type of information needed inorder to access the devices. These may include userid/password pairs,certificates, and so on. In some embodiments, these credentials may bestored in encrypted fields of CMDB 500. Proxy servers 312 may containthe decryption key for the credentials so that proxy servers 312 can usethese credentials to log on to or otherwise access devices beingdiscovered.

The discovery process is depicted as a flow chart in FIG. 5B. At block520, the task list in the computational instance is populated, forinstance, with a range of IP addresses. At block 522, the scanning phasetakes place. Thus, the proxy servers probe the IP addresses for devicesusing these IP addresses, and attempt to determine the operating systemsthat are executing on these devices. At block 524, the classificationphase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operatingsystem version of the discovered devices. At block 526, theidentification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determinethe hardware and/or software configuration of the discovered devices. Atblock 528, the exploration phase takes place. The proxy servers attemptto determine the operational state and applications executing on thediscovered devices. At block 530, further editing of the configurationitems representing the discovered devices and applications may takeplace. This editing may be automated and/or manual in nature.

The blocks represented in FIG. 5B are examples. Discovery may be ahighly configurable procedure that can have more or fewer phases, andthe operations of each phase may vary. In some cases, one or more phasesmay be customized, or may otherwise deviate from the exemplarydescriptions above.

In this manner, a remote network management platform may discover andinventory the hardware, software, and services deployed on and providedby the managed network. As noted above, this data may be stored in aCMDB of the associated computational instance as configuration items.For example, individual hardware components (e.g., computing devices,virtual servers, databases, routers, etc.) may be represented ashardware configuration items, while the applications installed and/orexecuting thereon may be represented as software configuration items.

The relationship between a software configuration item installed orexecuting on a hardware configuration item may take various forms, suchas “is hosted on”, “runs on”, or “depends on”. Thus, a databaseapplication installed on a server device may have the relationship “ishosted on” with the server device to indicate that the databaseapplication is hosted on the server device. In some embodiments, theserver device may have a reciprocal relationship of “used by” with thedatabase application to indicate that the server device is used by thedatabase application. These relationships may be automatically foundusing the discovery procedures described above, though it is possible tomanually set relationships as well.

The relationship between a service and one or more softwareconfiguration items may also take various forms. As an example, a webservice may include a web server software configuration item and adatabase application software configuration item, each installed ondifferent hardware configuration items. The web service may have a“depends on” relationship with both of these software configurationitems, while the software configuration items have a “used by”reciprocal relationship with the web service. Services might not be ableto be fully determined by discovery procedures, and instead may rely onservice mapping (e.g., probing configuration files and/or carrying outnetwork traffic analysis to determine service level relationshipsbetween configuration items) and possibly some extent of manualconfiguration.

Regardless of how relationship information is obtained, it can bevaluable for the operation of a managed network. Notably, IT personnelcan quickly determine where certain software applications are deployed,and what configuration items make up a service. This allows for rapidpinpointing of root causes of service outages or degradation. Forexample, if two different services are suffering from slow responsetimes, the CMDB can be queried (perhaps among other activities) todetermine that the root cause is a database application that is used byboth services having high processor utilization. Thus, IT personnel canaddress the database application rather than waste time considering thehealth and performance of other configuration items that make up theservices.

V. EXAMPLE DISCOVERY PROCESS UTILIZING COMMAND EXIT STATUS

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C illustrate message flow diagrams of operationsinvolved in discovering and mapping elements of a managed network.Specifically, FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C illustrate discovery application 600,persistent storage 602, and computing device 606 contained in managednetwork 300. Persistent storage 602 may, in some implementations,include and/or take the form of a database. In one implementation,discovery application 600 and persistent storage 602 may be disposed inor form part of a computational instance (e.g., computational instance322) of remote network management platform 320. This computationalinstance may be assigned to managed network 300, and thus used todiscover, map, and/or adjust various computing resources associatedtherewith. In other implementations, portions of discovery application600 may be disposed in, form part of, or be executed with the assistanceof proxy servers 312. For example, some or all portions of a discoverypattern deployed by discovery application 600 may be executed by proxyservers 312.

Persistent storage 602 may be configured to store a mapping of computingresources associated with managed network 300, as indicated by block608. The mapping may represent a plurality of computing devicesassociated with managed network 300, and the interconnections betweenthese computing devices, among other information. The mapping may bestored in persistent storage 602 as configuration items, which may beretrieved from persistent storage 602 by various computing devices andused to generate a visualization of the mapping. Discovery application600 may be configured to generate the mapping and modify the mappingover time as the state of managed network 300 changes. Other uses ofconfiguration items beyond that of visualization have been describedabove.

To that end, discovery application 600 may discover and map additionalcomputing devices present within managed network 300. For example,discovery application 600 may initiate the discovery and mapping processfor computing device 606 by transmitting, to managed network 300 and/orcomputing device 606, a discovery probe, as indicated by arrow 610.Based on or in response to reception of the probe at arrow 610, managednetwork 300 and/or computing device 606 may transmit a response, asindicated by arrow 612, that identifies computing device 606. Thus,based on or in response to reception of the response at arrow 612,discovery application 600 may be configured to identify computing device606 for incorporation into the mapping, as indicate by block 614.

In some cases, the probe of arrow 610 may be transmitted to computingdevice 606 based on an indicia of computing device 606 being discoveredon another computing device within managed network 300. For example,attributes of another computing device within managed network 300 mayindicate that this other computing device is communicatively connectedto computing device 606. Computing device 606 may thus be discovered andidentified based on its connections with such other computing deviceswithin managed network 300.

With computing device 606 identified, discovery application 600 may beconfigured to obtain additional details regarding computing device 606.Thus, based on or in response to identifying computing device 606 atblock 614, discovery application 600 may be configured to determine afirst command to be executed by computing device 606. The first commandmay be configured to cause computing device 606 to invoke a functionthat provides as output one or more attributes of computing device 606.

The function may be, for example, a function of an operating systemshell of computing device 606. The function may be determined based onan operating system of computing device 606, which may be indicated inthe response at arrow 612. For example, the function used for aWINDOWS®-based operating system may be different from the function usedfor a LINUX®-based operating system. To obtain information about storagedrives used by a computing device executing a WINDOWS®-based operatingsystem, discovery application 600 may be configured to use the“diskpart” function. On the other hand, to obtain similar informationfor a computing device executing a LINUX®-based operating system,discovery application 600 may be configured to use the “fdisk” function.

The attributes of computing device 606 generated by the function mayinclude any information relevant to the discovery and mapping ofcomputing device 606. For example, the attributes may include an amountof storage available to computing device 606, network parameters ofcomputing device 606, software programs installed on computing device606, and/or an amount of computing resources available on computingdevice 606, among other possibilities. Each set of attributes may beassociated with and/or obtainable by way of a different function.

In some cases, the function may fail to fully obtain the requestedattributes. Such failure may be indicated by way of a textual errormessage generated by the function and placed in the output thereof. Insome cases, the function may generate some of the attributes, and thispartial output may be provided along with the textual error messages.For example, the function may be configured to provide its output to astandard output channel (e.g., stdout) of the operating system andprovide any error messages to a standard error channel (e.g., stderr) ofthe operating system. Both the standard output channel and the standarderror channel may be provided as output of the operating system shell,and may thus be difficult to distinguish from one another. Thisdifficulty in distinguishing the function's valid output from thefunction's error messages may result in the error messages beingmisinterpreted as valid output of the function (i.e., as theattributes).

Further, due to variability among operating systems, operating systemversions/releases/flavors, and/or implementations of the functions, thecontent and formatting of the textual error messages may vary. Thisvariability may result in discovery application 600 not being able tointerpret the error message, and thus not being able to adjust the firstcommand accordingly to fully obtain the attributes.

Accordingly, the first command may include therein a parameter thatsuppresses any textual error messages that the function places in theoutput in response to its execution. The format of this parameter maydepend on the operating system of computing device 606. In the case ofLINUX®-based operating systems, the parameter may be, for example,“2>/dev/null”, where “2” is a channel descriptor of the standard errorchannel, “>” indicates to redirect contents of the preceding channeldescriptor to the following file descriptor, and “/dev/null” is a filedescriptor/path of a file system object that discards anything writtenthereto. In some implementations, “/dev/null” may be replaced, forexample, by a file descriptor/path of a log file that stores the errormessages written thereto for later analysis. In the case ofWINDOWS®-based operating systems, the parameter may be, for example,“2>nul”, where “nul” is analogous to “/dev/null.”

Rather than relying on textual error messages, discovery application 600may be configured to rely on a numerical exit status of the function indetermining whether the requested attributes were fully obtained. Tothat end, discovery application 600 may be configured to determine asecond command configured to cause computing device 606 to provide anumerical exit status of the function, as indicated by block 618. Theoperations of block 618 may be carried out based on or in response tocompletion of the operations of block 614 and/or 616.

Like the first command, the second command may be based on the operatingsystem and/or the operating system shell of computing device 606. In thecase of a LINUX®-based operating system, the second command may be, forexample, “echo $?”, where echo is an operating system command configuredto write its arguments to the standard output channel, and “$?” containsthe return value of the last executed command. In the case of aWINDOWS®-based operating system, the second command may be, for example,“echo %errorlevel%”, where “%errorlevel%” contains the return value ofthe last executed command. Thus, in some implementations, the firstcommand and the second command may be executed sequentially and withoutany other commands executed therebetween so as not to override thereturn value of the function invoked by the first command.

Based on or in response to determining the first command at block 616and/or determining the second command at block 618, discoveryapplication 600 may be configured to transmit the first command and thesecond command to computing device 606, as indicated by arrow 620. Thisand other transmissions between discovery application 600 and computingdevice 606 may be carried out by way of an SSH or POWERSHELL® connectionestablished therebetween.

Based on or in response to reception of the first command and/or thesecond command at arrow 620, computing device 606 may be configured togenerate the output of the function by executing the first command, asindicated by block 622. Specifically, the first command may invokeexecution of the function, which may in turn generate as output all,some, or none of the attributes. Based on the parameter included in thefirst command, computing device 606 may be configured to suppress anytextual error messages generated by the function, as indicated by block624. Instead of providing these textual messages, computing device 606may be configured to generate the numerical exit status of the functionby executing the second command, as indicated by block 626 of FIG. 6B.That is, computing device 606 may be configured to generate a numericaloutput, rather than a textual output, to indicate whether the functionexecuted successfully or encountered any errors.

Based on or in response to generating the output at block 622 and/orgenerating the numerical exit status at block 626, computing device 606may be configured to transmit, to discovery application 600, the outputand the numerical exit status, as indicate by arrow 628. Based on or inresponse to reception of the output and the numerical exit status atarrow 628, discovery application 600 may be configured to determine thatthe attributes were not fully obtained, as indicated by block 630. Thedetermination at block 630 may involve determining that the functiongenerated some, but not all, of the attributes specified by the firstcommand, or that the function did not generate any of these attributes(e.g., the function did not execute or failed for some reason).

Notably, both the textual error message and the numerical exit statusmay indicate that the attributes were not fully obtained. The numericalexit status may, however, be easier to interpret than the textual errormessage. That is, interpreting the numerical exit status does notinvolve parsing text and extracting meaning therefrom. Instead, forexample, determining that the function did not fully obtain theattributes may involve determining that the numerical exit status is notequal to a predetermined value. Further, the numerical exit status maybe more consistent across different computing devices than the textualerror message. That is, a particular exit status may indicate the sametype of error across different operating systems, while this same errormay be indicated textually in a plurality of different ways acrossdifferent operating systems or versions thereof.

Based on or in response to determining, at block 630, that theattributes were not fully obtained, discovery application 600 may beconfigured to modify the first command, as indicated by block 632. Insome implementations, the first command may be modified based on thenumerical exit status of the function. That is, the numerical exitstatus of the function may indicate a type of error encountered inexecuting the function, and the first command may thus be adjusted toavoid or correct this type of error. For example, the first command maybe modified by determining a third command as an alternative to thefirst command. The third command may, for example, invoke a differentfunction than the first command. This different function may beconfigured to provide as output at least some of the attributesinitially expected to be obtained by way of the first command. Inanother example, the first command may be modified by adjusting one ormore additional parameters included in the first command. The one ormore additional parameters may specify an input for the function, suchas an input value and/or an input flag that specifies a manner in whichthe function is to execute. Other modifications may be possible.

Based on or in response to modifying the first command at block 632,discovery application 600 may be configured to transmit, to computingdevice 606, the modified first command and the second command forexecution. That is, discovery application 600 may be configured tore-attempt to obtain the attributes of computing device 606 by way ofthe modified first command.

Based on or in response to reception of the commands at arrow 634,computing device 606 may be configured to generate an updated output ofthe function invoked by the modified first command by executing thefirst command as modified, as indicated by block 636. Again, computingdevice 606 may be configured to suppress any textual error messagesbased on the parameter included in the first command, as indicated byblock 638. Further, computing device 606 may be configured to generatean updated numerical exit status of the function invoked by the modifiedfirst command by executing the second command, as indicated by block640. Based on or in response to generation of the updated output atblock 636 and/or generation of the updated numerical exit status atblock 640, computing device 606 may be configured to transmit, todiscovery application 600, the updated output and the updated numericalexit status, as indicated by arrow 642.

Based on or in response to reception of the updated output and theupdated numerical exit status, discovery application 600 may beconfigured to determine, based on the updated numerical exit status,that the attributes were fully obtained, as indicated by block 644. Insome cases, computing device 606 may adhere to a convention defined bythe Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX). For example, anumerical exit status of zero may indicate that the function executedsuccessfully and without any errors, resulting in the output containingall the requested attributes. On the other hand, a non-zero numericalexit status may indicate that some error occurred.

The relationship or mapping between a particular non-zero value of thenumerical exit status and a corresponding error may be defined, forexample, based on a recommendation list defined by the GNU's Not Unix(GNU) or another software system, group, or consortium. This mapping maybe shared and used across different operating systems and versionsthereof. Thus, the type of error encountered during execution of thefunction may be accurately identified based on the numerical exitstatus. Accordingly, discovery application 600 may be configured toadjust the discovery operations (e.g., modify the first command) basedon the numerical exit status, thereby allowing the discovery process toproceed without interruption by inconsistent textual error messages thatdiscovery application 600 might not otherwise have been configured tohandle.

The operations of arrow 634 through arrow 642 may be analogous to thoseof arrow 620 through arrow 628, respectively. Further, if the updatednumerical exit status again indicates that the attributes were not fullyobtained, discovery application 600 may be configured to further modifythe first command and/or omit discovery of the attributes by way of thefirst command.

Based on or in response to determining that the attributes were fullyobtained at block 644, discovery application 600 may be configured torequest, from persistent storage 602, the mapping of the computingresources associated with managed network 300, as indicated by arrow646. Based on or in response to reception of the request at arrow 646,persistent storage 602 may be configured to retrieve the mapping, asindicated by block 648. Based on or in response to retrieval of themapping at block 648, persistent storage 602 may be configured totransmit the mapping to discovery application 600, as indicated by arrow650.

Based on or in response to reception of the mapping at arrow 650,discovery application 600 may be configured to update the mapping basedon the attributes, as indicated by block 652. For example, whencomputing device 606 is not indicated by the mapping, discoveryapplication 600 may generate configuration items that representcomputing device 606, its attributes, and any connections and/orrelationships between computing device 606 and other computing deviceswithin managed network 300, among other information. On the other hand,when computing device 606 is already present in the mapping, discoveryapplication 600 may modify configuration items associated with computingdevice 606 to indicate any updates to its attributes and its connectionsand/or relationships with other computing devices within managed network300, among other information.

Based on or in response to updating the mapping at block 652, discoveryapplication 600 may be configured to request storage of the updatedmapping in persistent storage 602, as indicated by arrow 654. Based onor in response to reception of the request at arrow 654, persistentstorage 602 may be configured to store the mapping as updated bydiscovery application 600, as indicated by block 656.

VI. EXAMPLE OPERATING SYSTEM SHELL COMMANDS

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate example commands that may be provided tocomputing device 606 as part of the operations illustrated in FIGS. 6A,6B, and 6C. The commands are shown provided to computing device 606(i.e., comp_dev) by way of an operating system shell (i.e., an interfaceconfigured to allow command line access to an operating system'sservices). Notably, the instructions shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B correspondto an operating system shell of a LINUX® or a LINUX®-like operatingsystem. As discussed above, different operating-system-specificinstructions may be used to perform similar operations on differentoperating systems such as, for example, WINDOWS® or MACOS®.

The prompt “discovery_app @comp_dev” on line 700 indicates thatcomputing device 606 is being remotely accessed by way of discoveryapplication 600 (i.e., discovery_app). Although a graphicalrepresentation of the input and output of the operating system shell isshown in FIGS. 7A and 7B for illustrative purposes, such graphicalrepresentations might not be displayed in practice. Rather, theinformation shown graphically may be transmitted as text charactersbetween computing device 606 and discovery application 600 by way of anetwork connection.

Lines 700 and 701 of FIG. 7A illustrate an implementation where anumerical exit status of the function is not utilized in place of thetextual error messages. Brackets “H” are used in FIG. 7A to illustrategeneric commands, outputs, and messages that, in practice, may besubstituted with specific commands, outputs, and messages asillustrated, for example, in FIG. 7B. Specifically, line 700 indicatesthat discovery application 600 may provide command “First Command”,which includes “Command Parameters”, to computing device 606. Inresponse or based thereon, computing device 606 may generate an output“First Command Output” and/or a textual error message “First CommandTextual Error Message”, as indicated by line 701. When both the outputand the textual error message are provided, it may be difficult todetermine where one ends and the other begins. Additionally, it may bedifficult to determine the cause of the error based on the textual errormessage.

Accordingly, lines 702-710 illustrate an implementation that uses anumerical exit status in place of textual error messages. Namely, line702 indicates that discovery application 600 appends parameter“2>/dev/null” to “First Command” and “Command Parameters”. In responseor based thereon, computing device 606 may generate the output “FirstCommand Output”, as indicated on line 703, and may suppress any textualerror message (i.e., “First Command Textual Error Message” is not shownon line 703). Discovery application 600 may then cause computing device606 to execute the second command “echo $?”, as indicated on line 704,based on or in response to which computing device 606 may generatenumerical exit status “Numerical Exit Status”, as indicated on line 705.

When “Numerical Exit Status” indicates that the attributes were notfully obtained, “Modified First Command” may be executed, as indicatedon lines 706 and 707, to obtain “Updated First Command Output”, asindicated on line 708. Alternatively, the first command may be executedagain with modified parameters. The second command “echo $?” may bere-executed, as indicated on line 709, to obtain the updated numericalexit status “Updated Numerical Exit Status”, as indicated on line 710.In some implementations, the first and second commands may beconcatenated and provided to computing device 606 as a single input,namely, “[First Command] [Command Parameters] 2>/dev/null; echo $?”. Theoutput of the first command and the numerical exit status may bedisambiguated from one another on the basis of the numerical exit statusbeing generated after the output of the first command.

FIG. 7B illustrates the process of FIG. 7A carried out with respect tothe “fdisk” command. The “fdisk” command may be configured to identifystorage devices connected to and/or used by computing device 606 alongwith attributes of these storage devices. Specifically, line 720indicates that discovery application 600 may provide command “fdisk”,which includes parameter (e.g., input flag) “−1”, to computing device606. In response or based thereon, computing device 606 may generatetextual error messages “fdisk: cannot open/dev/sda: Permission denied”and “fdisk: cannot open/dev/sdb: Permission denied”, as indicated bylines 721 and 722. These messages may indicate that discoveryapplication 600 lacks permission to open the storage devices identifiedby the “fdisk” command, and that the attributes of these storage devicesthus cannot be determined. In this example, “fdisk” has not produced anyvalid output. Due to the lack of standardization in these errormessages, it may be difficult to determine whether these messagesconstitute valid output or indicate errors, and to identify the type oferror encountered.

Accordingly, lines 723-734 illustrate an implementation that uses anumerical exit status of “fdisk” in place of textual error messages.Namely, line 723 indicates that discovery application 600 appendsparameter “2>/dev/null” to “fdisk −1”. In response or based thereon,computing device 606 might not generate any output, as indicated on line724, and may suppress any textual error message (i.e., the messages fromlines 721 and 722 are not shown on line 724). Discovery application 600may then cause computing device 606 to execute the second command “echo$?”, as indicated on line 725, based on or in response to whichcomputing device 606 may generate numerical exit status “2”, asindicated on line 726. Numerical exit status “2” may indicate apermissions-related error. The relationship between the numerical exitstatus and the type of error may be more consistent across computingdevices, operating systems, operating system versions, and/or operatingsystem shells than the textual error message, making the numerical exitstatus a more reliable basis for modifying the first command. Thisrelationship may be determined (e.g., manually or automatically bydiscovery application 600) based on, for example, a manual pageassociated with the first command (e.g., the “fdisk” command).

When numerical exit status “2” is received by discovery application 600,indicating that the attributes were not fully obtained due to a lack ofpermissions, discovery application 600 may modify the “fdisk −1” commandto “sudo fdisk −1”, as indicated on line 728. The “sudo” command allowsthe “fdisk −1” command to be run with super user privileges, thusavoiding the previously-encountered error. Thus, computing device 606may execute the “sudo fdisk −1 2>/dev/null” command to obtain the outputindicated on lines 729-732. Specifically, lines 729 and 731 indicatethat computing device 606 has access to two disks, the first disk (i.e.“/dev/sda”) having a capacity of 500 GB and the second disk (i.e.“/dev/sdb”) having a capacity of 305 GB. Lines 730 and 732 may indicateadditional attributes of these disks. The second command “echo $?” maybe re-executed, as indicated on line 733, to obtain the updatednumerical exit status “0”, as indicated on line 734, which now indicatesthat the requested attributes were fully obtained. That is, the “fdisk”function has been successfully executed and returned the requestedattributes without any errors.

VII. EXAMPLE OPERATIONS

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment. The processillustrated by FIG. 8 may be carried out by a computing device, such ascomputing device 100, and/or a cluster of computing devices, such asserver cluster 200. However, the process can be carried out by othertypes of devices or device subsystems. For example, the process could becarried out by a portable computer, such as a laptop or a tablet device.

The embodiments of FIG. 8 may be simplified by the removal of any one ormore of the features shown therein. Further, these embodiments may becombined with features, aspects, and/or implementations of any of theprevious figures or otherwise described herein.

Block 800 involves identifying, by a discovery application, a computingdevice associated with a managed network for incorporation into arepresentation of computing resources associated with the managednetwork. The representation may be stored, as one or more configurationitems and on behalf of the managed network, in persistent storagedisposed within a remote network management platform.

Block 802 involves determining, by the discovery application, a firstcommand configured to cause the computing device to invoke a functionconfigured to provide as output one or more attributes of the computingdevice. The command may include a parameter that suppresses any textualerror messages that the function places in the output in response to itsexecution.

Block 804 includes determining, by the discovery application, a secondcommand configured to cause the computing device to provide a numericalexit status of the function.

Block 806 includes causing, by the discovery application, the computingdevice to execute the first command and the second command.

Block 808 includes obtaining, from the computing device and by thediscovery application, the output of the function and the numerical exitstatus of the function.

Block 810 includes, based on the numerical exit status of the function,determining, by the discovery application, that the function did notfully obtain the one or more attributes of the computing device.

Block 812 includes, in response to determining that the function did notfully obtain the one or more attributes of the computing device, (i)modifying, by the discovery application, the first command, and (ii)causing, by the discovery application, the computing device to executethe first command as modified and the second command.

In some embodiments, the discovery application may also be configured toobtain, from the computing device, an updated output of the function andan updated numerical exit status of the function. Based on the updatednumerical exit status of the function, the discovery application maydetermine that the function obtained the one or more attributes of thecomputing device. Based on determining that the function obtained theone or more attributes of the computing device, the discoveryapplication may update the representation of the computing resourcesassociated with the managed network to include the one or moreattributes of the computing device. The representation as updated may bestored in the persistent storage.

In some embodiments, the representation might not be updated when thenumerical exit status of the function indicates that the function didnot fully obtain the one or more attributes of the computing device.

In some embodiments, determining that the function did not fully obtainthe one or more attributes of the computing device may includedetermining that the numerical exit status of the function is not equalto a predetermined value.

In some embodiments, the discovery application may be configured todetermine that the output of the function is empty, and determine thatthe function did not fully obtain the one or more attributes of thecomputing device further based on determining that the output of thefunction is empty.

In some embodiments, modifying the first command may include modifyingthe first command based on the numerical exit status of the function.

In some embodiments, modifying the first command may include determininga third command configured to cause the computing device to invokeanother function configured to provide as output at least some of theone or more attributes.

In some embodiments, the parameter may be a first parameter. Modifyingthe first command may include modifying a second parameter included inthe first command. The second parameter may specify an input for thefunction.

In some embodiments, the first command may be modified based on a manualpage associated with the first command.

In some embodiments, the discovery application may be configured toidentify an operating system of the computing device and determine eachof the first command and the second command based on the operatingsystem of the computing device.

In some embodiments, each of the first command and the second commandmay include operating system shell commands.

In some embodiments, the parameter may be configured to cause thecomputing device to suppress the textual error messages generated by thefunction by redirecting a standard error channel to a file system objectconfigured to discard data provided thereto.

In some embodiments, the second command may be configured to cause thecomputing device to provide the numerical exit status of the function byproviding a value of a particular operating system shell variable to astandard output channel.

In some embodiments, the discovery application may be executed by aserver device remote to the computing device to implement an agentlessdiscovery process for the computing device.

VIII. CONCLUSION

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its scope, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuseswithin the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those describedherein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

The above detailed description describes various features and operationsof the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to theaccompanying figures. The example embodiments described herein and inthe figures are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments can beutilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readilyunderstood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generallydescribed herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged,substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

With respect to any or all of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, andflow charts in the figures and as discussed herein, each step, block,and/or communication can represent a processing of information and/or atransmission of information in accordance with example embodiments.Alternative embodiments are included within the scope of these exampleembodiments. In these alternative embodiments, for example, operationsdescribed as steps, blocks, transmissions, communications, requests,responses, and/or messages can be executed out of order from that shownor discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order,depending on the functionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocksand/or operations can be used with any of the message flow diagrams,scenarios, and flow charts discussed herein, and these message flowdiagrams, scenarios, and flow charts can be combined with one another,in part or in whole.

A step or block that represents a processing of information cancorrespond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specificlogical functions of a herein-described method or technique.Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents aprocessing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or aportion of program code (including related data). The program code caninclude one or more instructions executable by a processor forimplementing specific logical operations or actions in the method ortechnique. The program code and/or related data can be stored on anytype of computer readable medium such as a storage device including RAM,a disk drive, a solid state drive, or another storage medium.

The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computerreadable media such as computer readable media that store data for shortperiods of time like register memory and processor cache. The computerreadable media can further include non-transitory computer readablemedia that store program code and/or data for longer periods of time.Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistentlong term storage, like ROM, optical or magnetic disks, solid statedrives, or compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. Thecomputer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatilestorage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computerreadable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

Moreover, a step or block that represents one or more informationtransmissions can correspond to information transmissions betweensoftware and/or hardware modules in the same physical device. However,other information transmissions can be between software modules and/orhardware modules in different physical devices.

The particular arrangements shown in the figures should not be viewed aslimiting. It should be understood that other embodiments can includemore or less of each element shown in a given figure. Further, some ofthe illustrated elements can be combined or omitted. Yet further, anexample embodiment can include elements that are not illustrated in thefigures.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopebeing indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor; and a memory,accessible by the processor, and storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: identifying a computing device disposed within a managednetwork; transmitting, via the processor, and to the computing device, acommand requesting one or more attributes of the computing device;receiving, via the processor, and from the computing device, a responseto the command; determining, via the processor, that the response to thecommand does not contain all of the one or more attributes of thecomputing device; modifying, via the processor, the command so that asubsequent response to the modified command by the computing devicecontains all of the one or more attributes of the computing device; andtransmitting, via the processor, the modified command to the computingdevice.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device providesthe one or more attributes via an operating system shell of thecomputing device.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operationscomprise transmitting, via the processor, and to the computing device, asecond command requesting a numerical exit status from the computingdevice.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the command, the modifiedcommand, and the second command each invoke a function of the operatingsystem shell of the computing device.
 5. The system of claim 4, whereinthe command is configured to suppress textual error messages that thefunction of the operating system shell generates in response to thecommand.
 6. The system of claim 4, wherein the command comprises inputflags or input values, or both configured to obtain particularattributes of the one or more attributes of the computing device.
 7. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein modifying the command is based on thenumerical exit status.
 8. The system of claim 4, wherein modifying thecommand comprises determining a third command configured to cause thecomputing device to invoke a second function configured to provide asoutput at least one of the one or more attributes.
 9. The system ofclaim 4, wherein determining that the response to the command does notcontain all of the one or more attributes of the computing devicecomprises determining that the numerical exit status is not equal to apredetermined value.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein modifying thecommand is based on a manual page associated with the command.
 11. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory and disposed ona server device remote from the computing device, wherein the server isconfigured to perform an agentless discovery process for the computingdevice.
 12. A method comprising: transmitting, via a processor, and to acomputing device disposed within a managed network, a command requestingone or more attributes of the computing device; receiving, via theprocessor, and from the computing device, a response to the command;determining, via the processor, that the response to the command doesnot contain all of the one or more attributes of the computing device;and modifying, in response to determining that the response to thecommand does not contain all of the one or more attributes of thecomputing device, via the processor, the command so that a subsequentresponse to the modified command by the computing device contains all ofthe one or more attributes of the computing device; and transmitting,via the processor, the modified command to the computing device.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, comprising identifying the computing device disposedwithin the managed network for incorporation into a representation ofcomputing resources associated with the managed network.
 14. The methodof claim 13, comprising: generating the representation of the computingresources associated with the managed network; and storing therepresentation in the memory.
 15. The method of claim 13, comprising:determining that the response to the command contains all of the one ormore attributes of the computing device; and updating the representationof the computing resources associated with the managed network toinclude the one or more attributes of the computing device.
 16. Themethod of claim 12, comprising transmitting, via the processor, a secondcommand requesting a numerical exit status of a function invoked by thecommand.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining that theresponse to the command does not contain all of the one or moreattributes of the computing device is based on the numerical existstatus of the function.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein modifyingthe command is based on the numerical exit status of the function,wherein the numerical exit status of the function indicates a particulartype of error encountered in executing the function, and the command ismodified accordingly to correct the particular type of error.
 19. Anarticle of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon executionby a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:transmitting, via the processor and to a computing device disposedwithin a managed network, a command requesting one or more attributes ofthe computing device; receiving, via the processor, and from thecomputing device, a response to the command; determining, via theprocessor, that the response to the command does not contain all of theone or more attributes of the computing device; and modifying, inresponse to determining that the response to the command does notcontain all of the one or more attributes of the computing device, viathe processor, the command so that a subsequent response to the modifiedcommand by the computing device contains all of the one or moreattributes of the computing device; and transmitting, via the processor,the modified command to the computing device.
 20. The article ofmanufacture of claim 19, comprising transmitting, via the processor, asecond command requesting a numerical exit status of a function invokedby the command, wherein modifying the command is based on the numericalexist status of the function.